The Best Way to "Have" a Pet

I think I may have discovered the secret to satisfying my children's yearning for a pet. (Yeah, I'm that mean mom who won't really allow animals in the house. Really, I am allergic to cats and dogs.) Anyway, the secret: a couple of weekends ago we babysat Adah's class pet Fluffy the Hamster, aptly nicknamed "Hamsty."

This was the perfect arrangement. On Friday afternoon we picked up Hamsty's cage from the classroom and were informed that he had clean wood shavings. All we had to do was feed him and give him water, and return him Monday morning! No cleaning the cage. No cleaning the pet. No vet trips (hopefully). No expense. No time to smell. Perfect.

My biggest worry the whole weekend was Gunnar. As I told Damon, "I don't trust him any further than he can throw Hamsty." Fortunately, there were no incidents. We did catch Gunnar trying to get the lid off the cage a few times, but someone was always ready to intervene.

The kids were delighted and enchanted with our weekend visitor. They had plenty of opportunities to hold him, let him out onto a towel for playtime, and generally show him off to anyone who happened to come to our front door.

It was a complete success and Hamsty was happily returned to the classroom Monday morning. We may even have him over again. (I hear there's a line-up, though--other parents must know "the secret.")

Epilogue: Sadly, Hamsty died about two weeks ago during lunchtime. Cause of death: suspected hamstercide by a fellow classmate who reportedly was squeezing Hamsty earlier in the day. Adah's teacher had all of the children paint a rock to place over the grave under a tree near the school where they had a small service. The class voted to have everyone donate 50 cents each to go towards purchasing a new class hamster.

Fun Times, or "Cabin Fever"

Here's just a little bit of what's kept us occupied during these rainy and gray days of late winter.

When Gunnar fell asleep in the car, Damon brought him in and ended up falling asleep holding him on the couch. That was a signal to Maggie to pull out her hair accessories:
Here's what happens when you let your children help you shred documents:
Note: I thought, "Sure, I'll be the fun mom and let them play with all the shredded paper." Next time, NO WAY. There was a huge fight when it came to clean-up, even though they were forewarned it would be their responsibility.

Finally, just this morning I woke up to find a pirate ship, Dash, in the family room. Here are two of the crew:

Aaaargh!

Adah's Reports

I wanted to show off some of Adah's recent school work. The first is from a little booklet she made, titled Bee Facts. The book begins [with Adah's original spelling], "Bees make nectar in to honey. Bees sting there enemys, but when they sting they die. Bees dance to show other bees where flowers are."

Page 2 is our favorite:

This second report was written just last week in her reading class. Each student had a library book on a different animal. They took notes and then had to write it all out in sentences. I was impressed with the complex structure of her first sentence, and then got a chuckle by her matter-of-fact statement/question later on. Enjoy:

We are very proud of Adah. She has a bright, curious mind. We're glad she has a teacher who really knows how to engage and challenge her. Keep up the good work, Adah!